OT: Protecting a marble table

[KarlC]

Originally Posted by dlbracey

As a residential architect I advise clients on this pretty frequently. I also have a marble island and breakfast table and a 3 year old who spends a lot of time at both. Here’s my take, either be fastidious and clean up spills quickly, treat it gently, and reseal with any of the widely available products regularly (2-3 months) OR do as the Italians and I do and just let it develop a patina over time. There’s some saying in Italy about marble not looking right until it’s been walked on for 100 years. Triton stone distributors have started importing one of the treated marbles that is supposed to be a little more durable, but I haven’t heard any reports on the performance claims. I have seen it in person and it looks just like marble.

Im been in the counter top biz for 30+ years and the above is right on point.

Marble is a very soft product for everyday counter use, it stains, scratches and chips pretty EZ. Dont leave spills of wine, citrus juice, vinegar and such on it, wipe them up right away.

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[KarlC]

Originally Posted by joosttx

It is sealed.

Dont take that for granted, be 100% sure or seal it yourself.

Originally Posted by joosttx

Dining room table is marble. We have a quartz/composite countertops. I don’t think marble counter tops would last long are our house.

Be careful with quartz counters also, they are often oversold, they DO stain, chip and scratch. Never put anything hot on them, you can burn / crack the resin (what they are mostly made of) and it can not be repaired to look as new.

All counters have +'s / -'s it really just depends on what best for you.

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[KarlC]

Originally Posted by rwsaunders

Houston...you’ll appreciate this. Years ago we had a tough, tough client who “got a deal” on some old marble toilet partitions from a historic library and she was repurposing the marble for her kitchen in a high-end condo tower. Well, the marble was stored for years in an unconditioned warehouse and marble being what it is, didn’t require a lot in terms of cutting it into countertops and polishing the surface.

Skip ahead 6 months later and the marble was installed as kitchen counters, including a pastry prep area. Only one issue...when the temporary heat came on in the building, 100 years of atomized urine, which was trapped in the porous marble, decided to rise to the surface. Egads, what a smell.

LOL, how could they not see this coming ???

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[Louis]

Originally Posted by KarlC

LOL, how could they not see this coming ???

I would have rejected the idea on principle - porosity and absorbed urine or not, there's no way I'd be able to use that in my kitchen without thinking of where it had been before, and just the thought would be revolting.

Inanimate objects don't retain an "aura" of where they've been and how they've been used in the past (although the smell of urine comes close) but for things like that, human memory can't simply be erased.

[weaponsgrade]

Originally Posted by rwsaunders

Houston...you’ll appreciate this. Years ago we had a tough, tough client who “got a deal” on some old marble toilet partitions from a historic library and she was repurposing the marble for her kitchen in a high-end condo tower. Well, the marble was stored for years in an unconditioned warehouse and marble being what it is, didn’t require a lot in terms of cutting it into countertops and polishing the surface.

Skip ahead 6 months later and the marble was installed as kitchen counters, including a pastry prep area. Only one issue...when the temporary heat came on in the building, 100 years of atomized urine, which was trapped in the porous marble, decided to rise to the surface. Egads, what a smell.

LOL! This reminded me of a time when I was growing up and my dad hauled my brother and I out to gather ginkgo berries. He spied a whole line of trees planted in the median of a busy highway. So one day we came out with a bunch of 5 gallon buckets, parked on the shoulder, sprinted across at least two lanes of traffic and spent the day filling the buckets. The berries smell like dog poo. The smell never left the car - an olive green Pontiac that could fit a baby grand piano. Getting inside during the summer months could induce vomiting for those with weak constitutions.

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by KarlC

Dont take that for granted, be 100% sure or seal it yourself.





Be careful with quartz counters also, they are often oversold, they DO stain, chip and scratch. Never put anything hot on them, you can burn / crack the resin (what they are mostly made of) and it can not be repaired to look as new.

All counters have +'s / -'s it really just depends on what best for you.

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I meant composite not quartz